How far can you go?
by loisje
Summary: SaraOC When the team gets transferred to days, sara finally decides to get a life. But she gets involved in the wrong crowd. Can someone help her? Chapter 10 finally up!
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: this is my first fan fiction ever. If you have any tips please tell me, because I want to improve my writing. I transferred the team to days because that fits better to the story, I mean most good party's are at night.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or the characters.

Chapter 1 

It had been an exhausting shift, but it was finally over. At least that is what the graveyard shift thought. Just when they were all ready to go home, Ecklie had called in a meeting in the break room.

Nick and Warrick were the last to arrive, they were already on their way home when they got paged about the meeting. Catherine, Sara and Greg were already there and didn't look so happy about it.

"What the hell is going on? We just had to pull a triple and now we have to come in again?" Nick asked to the rest of the team.

"We don't know what's going on" Sara responded "Ecklie has something that he needs to share with us, what of course couldn't wait until next shift!"

"Yeah, I hope he comes here soon because otherwise I'm out of here. I'm really looking forward to a long hot bath and a goodnight rest." said Catherine.

There was some more complaining between the team until finally Ecklie arrived with Grissom two steps behind him. Ecklie looked around if everyone was there and then began to talk.

"Alright everyone I'm going to cut straight to the case, I'm switching you all to the dayshift." He ignored all the indignant faces of everyone, and continued to explain. "For the past couple of months there have been a lot more cases on days then on graveyard, the current dayshift can't handle them anymore, and we have gotten really backlogged. So I have decided to switch teams because I'm confident that you can handle the pressure. So as if today you all start at 8:00 in the morning, and your shift ends at 4:00 in the afternoon. So everybody go home and get some sleep, and I'll see you at 8:00 in the morning!" With that Ecklie turned around and walked out of the room, and let the team discuss the sudden changes.

Grissom looked around and saw everybody staring at him waiting to explain.

"I'm sorry guys but there was nothing I could do, at least he's not breaking us up. And think about it this way, now you can all have that private life that you always wanted."

"Well that's true," Catherine started "I mean now I can finally spend some time with Lindsay and sleep during the night like most people."

"Ow, and I can go that festival next Tuesday! I was pretty bummed that I couldn't go there because it was at midnight, but now it wouldn't be a problem!" Greg chimed in.

"You do know that you have to start early in the morning so you're gettting much sleep right?" Nick asked.

"Well I'm used to having little to no sleep."

"That's true."

Everyone has come to accept the transfer. Everyone but Sara. 'Why do we have to switch to dayshift? I liked things the way they are.' These were the only thoughts going through her head.

"Hey Sar cheer up, it's gonna be great!" Greg said trying to cheer her up.

Sara didn't look convinced, "I just don't get why he has to change things again."

"Come on Sara, now even you can try to get a life! You've been pretty down lately, this will probably be good for you!" Warrick said.

"What is the last time you've been out actually, Sara?" Catherine asked.

"Uh.. I don't know, it's been awhile. But it's just not my thing, I'm just more of a person to stay home or working."

"Yeah especially that last one, come on Sara do you even know how to go out, or how to make new friends?"

"Hey! I know how to make friends and go out!"

"Yeah right!"

Sara opened her mouth to respond but closed it again, what's the point anyway. She stood up and left the room without saying another word. Maybe they were right, maybe she did have to go out more.

She knew how to go out and make new friends, when she was a teenager she snuck out all the time to go to party's and such. She knew her dad would never let her so she just snuck out. In college she also went to a fair share of party's, and dated quite a bit. But when she got a good job in San Francisco, she didn't really have time to go out anymore. She got so engrossed with what she was doing that she didn't want to go out anymore. She was finally doing something that she was actually good at, so why doing something else?

But now she was determined to proof them wrong, she was gonna go out tonight. And make new friends and her work is not going to be her life anymore. Tonight was going to be her night off, but she didn't know if she would have the morning off. Normally it wouldn't matter because she would come in anyway, but she was going to change and she might as well start now. She grabbed her cell phone and called Grissom.

"Grissom"

"Hey Griss, it's Sara. I was wondering if I would still have the day off since this would be my night off?"

"Uh.. You can still have the day off. Hey Sara I want to apologize for Catherine's behavior, she went to far and I told her to apologize the next time she sees you."

"It's okay, she was probably right on some level anyway. I'll see you in two days then!"

"All right, see you in two days. And have fun on your day off!"

"Thanks, bye."

"Bye"

Sara unlocked the door to her apartment, and threw her bag on the counter. She looked around. The apartment wasn't empty, but it still felt like it. There weren't pictures of friends or colleagues or family. Well the last one wasn't her fault, she didn't have any family anymore, and she never really saw her parents as real parents. But the first two could be arranged. There weren't any plants, or some thing to make her apartment more interesting, or homy. Just everything she needed to have to survive. She really needs to redecorate her apartment.

As she was starting to get ready to go out, she was getting more excited by the minute. She couldn't believe she was actually looking forward to this. She decides that she really needs a night out, the past few months were tough, she had a lot of cases that reminded her of her home situation when she was a kid, and she was starting to have a lot of nightmares again. Maybe this was the way to let it all behind.

She finally decided to wear her leather pants that she always wore in college when she went out. She got a tight black t-shirt out of her closet and her black boots.

She looked at herself in mirror and decided she looked good enough, only her hair and make-up and she would be out the door. She brushed her hair and decided to wear it loose and put on some mascara and eye pencil. She got her jacket and purse and out she was.

**Authors note**: let me know what you think so far in a review. I want to know if people are actually interested in this story before I continue. Ow and it might be awhile before I update because I'm in my exams at the moment, my parents would kill me if they knew I was writing this story while I should be learning my math!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note**: my parents just left so I thought I might as well write another chapter. So here's chapter 2! Hope you like!!!

Chapter 2 

She decided to go to club 28, it was a new club in Vegas that opened a week ago. So far no crimes had ever happened so it seemed like a safe choice.

She got there at 11:00 in the evening so luckily the line wasn't very long. After 15 minutes she was first in line, she showed her ID to the guard at the door and she was in.

The club actually looked pretty nice. There was a large dance floor, a bar with bar stools with black and brown leather. The bar itself was made out of wood and was painted a light brown color. There were a lot of signs at the bar that were actually pretty funny. Such like: "We're not responsible if your shoes get lost or stolen." (A/N: my uncle actually runs a bar, and he has a lot of signs hanging there, this is one of them so I thought it would be fun to put that in the story!!)

In the back were a lot of seats and tables which looked really comfortable. Around every table there was a circle red couch, a lot of them were already occupied, and it looked like most people came here in groups.

Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to come here alone after all. What was she supposed to do by herself?

She almost wanted to go home, but then the conversation in the break room echoed through her head and she decided to stay. She went to the bar thirst, if she would get a drink she would probably loosen up a bit more and maybe even start to relax and meet new people.

"Can I have a bacardi and coke please?", she asked the bartender.

"Sure thing." said the bartender and handed Sara her drink. She took a closer look at the bartender. He had curly dark brown hair up until his neck, his face looked pretty handsome, and his body.. well lets just say she had a hard time trying to keep her jaw from hitting the ground.

"Thank you." she said and handed the bartender a twenty. She seated herself at one of the bar stools and looked around slowly sipping her drink.

"Are you new in town?" the bartender asked after a couple of minutes.

"Na, I've lived here for about six years now."

"All right. So what do you think of this joint so far?"

"I think it's okay, but I don't really have much to compare so…"

"But you said you lived here for about six years right? Have you never been to another club before? Ow can you wait for one second, I have to help a customer. Be right back with you!"

'Well this isn't so bad is it? At least I'm talking to someone.' Sara thought while taking the last of her drink.

"So I'm back again, Thought of an answer yet?"

"Well.. I'm actually pretty much a workaholic, so I never really went out. I'm trying to change that now. I worked nights but my shift got transferred to days now, so I might as well make another change by going out sometime!" she had no idea why she was sharing all this information. But the bartender didn't seem to mind or judge her, he actually looked like he was interested.

"You know," he said while refilling her glass "I think I can help you with that. I'm off at any moment, I actually wasn't supposed to work tonight, but the guy who was supposed to work got stuck in traffic. Well that's what he says, but I'm pretty sure he just hooked up with some girl. Anyway I'm meeting a couple of friends here, and you can join us if you want. We can teach you all about how to go out. What do you say? And that drink is on me." he said when she wanted to take some cash out of her wallet.

" Thanks. But I don't know, I don't want to intrude or anything. I'm sure your friends wouldn't like a workaholic like me to sit with you."

"Hey you won't be intruding, otherwise I wouldn't have asked now would I. I'm Chris by the way." he said while extending his hand.

"Sara", she said excepting his hand.

"Well it's really nice to meet you Sara", Chris said winking at her. He then looked up when a man begin thirties walked up to the bar. "Well well, look who finally showed up" Chris said to the man.

"I told you terrible traffic" the man said with a smirk on his face.

"Uh-huh" Chris said, sounding not at all convinced. "Sara this is Josh, Josh Sara"

"Nice to meet you Sara" Josh said.

"Likewise"

"Well Sara what do you say we go sit over there by one of the couches?" Chris asked. After Sara's nod he began leading her to one of the couches.

"Wow these are really comfortable!" Sara commented.

"Yeah I know, I picked them out. I was having a really hard time convincing the owner because they cost a lot, but now he's really glad with it, because in all the reviews of the club there was a lot of positive feedback about them."

"Well I can understand why. So are you a fulltime bartender or do you do something else?"

"I'm behind the bar 3 times a week, and I'm also a dance teacher."

"Really a dance teacher? When I was a kid I always wanted to take dancing classes. But I never got the change. Then after awhile I just started free styling on some music with a couple of friends of mine."

"I'm sure you did a great job. I would like to see you freestyle some time though, see if you still got it."

"Well you would never know if I _still _got it because you've never seen me freestyle before."

"Ahh.. smarty pants aren't we? I'm sure you'll do great, and if not I can always give you those dance classes that you always wanted." Chris said winking at her.

"I think I can manage that" Sara replied with a smile. She was actually really enjoying herself with Chris. He was really nice and not to bad to look at either. If his friends were just like him she might make some new friends.

"So what do you do for living?"

"I'm a CSI"

"Really a CSI, wouldn't expect that from you." Chris said

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I always picture CSI's with glasses and lab coats, and definitely not in leather pants." he said smiling at her. "I guess I should change my picture of them now that I've met you"

"I guess you should then." she said smiling back at him.

"Hey my friends are here!" Chris said, "Hey guys over here!!" he shouted.

A group of 4 people headed their way. Three guys and one girl.

"Hey Chris," the girl said "whose your friend?"

"Guys this is Sara, she's a recovering workaholic and would love to have us help her to turn her into a party girl" Chris said.

"Okay, well in that case I'm Riley, and I absolutely wouldn't mind to help you. You came to the right crowd girl!" Riley said while sitting next to Sara and putting an arm around her shoulder. "These boys are Matt, Russel but we call him Russ, and Daniel." She pointed to the three guys.

"Nice to meet you Sara, and don't worry you're in good hands." Matt said, while shaking her hand. After Russ and Daniel also shook her hand. They sat down and started talking.

Sara felt pretty relaxed actually, this wasn't so bad as she thought it would be. She had already met some people who wouldn't mind talking with her, and actually showed interest in her.

After three hours of talking, dancing and getting to know each other. Riley decided to make the evening more interesting.

"What do you guys think of a shot competition? Two tequila shots in a row, person who is last to finish has to have an extra shot." Riley asked.

"Sounds like a good idea to me, whose in?" Russ asked.

"I'm in" Matt said. "Me too" Chris said. "Well I never say no to a shot competition, I always win!" Daniel responded.

"What about you Sar?" Riley asked.

"I don't know"

"Come on it will be fun, and your change to be a party girl. When shot competitions are held most of the time there is a lot of audience. It would get your name out there Sar! What do you got to lose anyway?"

"Your right, I came here to crawl out of my shell, so that's what I'm going to do!"

"There you go," Daniel said "now you are probably going to lose but that's okay that happens to everyone the first time." he said trying to reassure her.

"I never said that this was my first tequila shot competition, it's just been awhile. In college I was one of the best!" Sara said.

"O, really? Well then show us what you're made off! Josh!!" Daniel shouted "bring us two tequila bottles and a couple of shot glasses, we're having a little competition!"

Josh brought two tequila bottles and some glasses over to their table. "Knock your selves out" he said, and returned to his spot behind the bar.

A few people gathered around the table, curious about who was going to win and lose.

Chris filled up the shot glasses, "All right, everyone ready?" after he saw everyone nod their heads he started counting "3… 2… 1… " they all drank their shots. To Sara's delight she came in second right after Daniel. Russ lost and had to take another shot.

The second time she came in last and had to take another shot. The third and last time however she got first.

"Okay so you were right, for someone who hasn't joined a shot competition for about ten years, you weren't really that bad." Chris commented her.

"Well thank you, now I'm gonna go to the bathroom I'll be right back." she said. She tried to stand up, but almost immediately fell back on the couch.

"Looks like someone is wasted" Riley said, although she herself obviously had her fair amount of alcohol.

"Okay so It's been awhile since the last time I drank this much, so don't judge me!" she said laughing.

"Don't worry about it Sara, I'll walk with you to the bathroom make sure you go into the right one." Riley said laughing back at her.

When they got back there was some more talking and dancing. And at 6:00 in the morning Sara had collected quite a few phone numbers. With Riley as her coach she was doing pretty well.

At 7:00 the group decided to go home, they called a taxi and managed to cram into it with the six of them. Sara's apartment was the first on the list. After exchanging phone numbers she got out of the cab and stumbled to her apartment. After about 5 minutes she managed to get the door open. Without even taking of her coat off she fell onto her couch and was asleep in a few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors note**: I wanna thank stormy-xxl and Emma Jay Bentley for reviewing. Now I know that at least two people are interested! ;) Well this is the next chapter, hope everyone likes it!

Chapter 3 

Sara slowly opened her eyes, but almost immediately closed them again. Now she knew why she didn't do those shot competitions anymore. She had the feeling there were a ton of little men with hammers going at it in her head.

She looked at the clock in her living room, and saw that it was 4:00 in the afternoon. She hasn't slept that long in a long time. If only that headache would go away!

She grabs a couple of aspirins, and then heads for the shower. After showering and some aspirins she actually felt a lot better. After she got something to eat she heads to the living room to watch some TV.

Then something out of the corner of her eye grabs her attention. The red light of her answering machine is on. She's got 4 new messages. 'Well that's been awhile' Sara thought. She gets up from the couch and presses play.

The first one is from Catherine: "Hey Sara, it's Catherine. I just wanted to apologize for what I said in the break room. I was just really tired and frustrated and I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. So again sorry for that. See you tomorrow at shift."

The second one was from Chris: "Hey Sar! I really had a blast last night. Listen there's an amazing party tomorrow night at a friend of mine. I'd really like it if you would come and I'm sure Dani, Russ, Matt and Riley wouldn't mind. They really liked you last night! Just give me a call!"

The third message was from Riley: "Hey it's me! How's that headache working out for ya? Mines really bad too, but I have an amazing recipe for a hangover, if it's really bad just call me and I'll be over in a bit. Did Chris already called you about the party tomorrow night? You have got to come, Zack's party's are always amazing! Call ya later!"

The fourth messages was from a guy she vaguely remembered giving her number to. "Hey Sara, it's Mark, we've met at the club last night. I was just wondering if you wanted to go have lunch with me tomorrow? Just give me a call, my number's 555-8463. Bye."

Now what should she do? She could call Mark back and tell him yes, her lunch break would be around lunchtime anyway. Yes, she should definitely call him it's a part of having a life right?

"555-8463" she mumbled to herself "Don't be nervous Sara you can do this. No way back now, it's already ringing." she told herself.

"Hello , this is Mark." she heard on the other line.

"Hi Mark, it's Sara"

"Sara hi, I'm glad you called! So what do you say about my offer?"

"I think I can manage that. I think my lunch break is around lunch time anyway, so.."

"That's great! So should I pick you up at around 12:00?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Okay, so where do you want me to pick you up?"

"Well I work at the CSI HQ, so if you could pick me up there and ask for me at the reception, that would be great."

"All right then I'll see you tomorrow at twelve."

"See you then."

"Bye"

And then the line went dead. She had just gotten herself a date. She hadn't had a date in a long time. After Hank she just didn't want to date anymore for awhile, and she kinda got stuck in that pattern.

Just when she was going to put the phone away, it rang again.

"Sara"

"Hey it's Riley, got my message?"

"I certainly did, and don't worry after a couple of aspirins and a hot shower that headaches already gone."

"Haha, well that's good then. Now what do you say about the party?"

"I don't know, I do have to go to work the next morning. So I don't think that would be a good idea."

"So call in sick."

"Na I can't do that, they're already backlogged, so I would feel kinda bad if I didn't show up"

"Well then just leave early, or stay awake until you have to start working. Come on you can't miss this. I already told a lot of people about you and they want to meet you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I told them that you beat Dani one time with the shots, and you're the first newbie who ever did that!"

"All right I think I can come for a couple of hours, but I'm not joining any shot competitions!"

"What if you joined a shot competition in the beginning of the night, to show what you're made of, and then after that drink a lot of water and don't drink any alcohol anymore? I will personally make sure you drink enough water until you sobered up."

"I'll think about it okay?"

"No not think about it, just promise that you'll do it. Come on Sara it'll be fun!"

"All right, all right I'll do it" Sara sighed.

"Good girl."

"Ow and by the way, do you remember that guy Mark?"

"The one you were dancing with for almost two hours?"

"Yeah that one, and it wasn't that long."

"Yeah right, but what's with him?"

"He asked me out to lunch tomorrow!"

"Really that's so exciting!" Riley squeals into the phone. "See it's good to hang out with us, one day out of your shell and look at you! You already have a date, and of course great friends even though I'm saying it myself."

"Don't get to full of yourself!"

"I won't don't worry!" Riley laughed "What time do you get off shift tomorrow?"

"Around four, why?"

"Then I'll meet you at your place at five, so we can get your outfit right! If we meet this early, we can still go shopping if you have nothing good."

"You do have a lot of fate in me don't you?"

"Well you _are_ a recovering workaholic, so I have to go with the odds here."

"All right you got a point there. Then I'll see you at five at my place."

"See you then!"

She didn't know if it would be a good idea to go to that party, but if she wanted to go out more this was her change. And she didn't want her new friends to drop her so soon. She knows she can go without a couple days of sleep, but in combination with alcohol it might be a problem. "Well that's just going to be a risk I have to take", she said firmly to herself.

She decided to get some more sleep before shifts starts because she had a long day ahead of her.

At 7:30 in the morning, she got in her car and drove to work. She got there at 7:45. After dropping her stuff in her locker, she headed for the break room for some coffee.

Nick and Warrick were already complaining about how tired they were.

"I mean I don't mind switching to days, it just sucks that you have to get into a whole new pattern again!" Nick argued.

"Yeah I know man, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. I actually get to see Tina once in awhile now!" Warrick said.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi Sara"

"Hey Sar"

Sara walked over to the coffee pot, while she was softly singing to herself. This didn't go unnoticed by Warrick and Nick. They looked at each other silently asking if the other knew what was going on.

After getting nothing from Warrick, Nick decided to ask her. "Hey Sara, why are you so happy?"

"O nothing, just slept well and had a good night.. sorry I mean day off." She said while sitting at the table sipping her coffee.

"It's a big change since yesterday" Warrick decided to chime in. "You actually looked pretty run down these past coupe of weeks and yesterday you didn't seem so happy about the transfer."

"I know, but a girl can change. I decided that you were right, I have to get a life of my own, something that doesn't involve working overtime, listening to police scanners, reading forensic books or watching forensic shows on TV."

Before Warrick or Nick could respond, the rest of the team came in. They al got there assignments and got to work.

**Authors Note**: So that's chapter 3, I promise next chapter will be more interesting. Sara will meet some interesting people and is going to get some offers which will be hard to refuse. (Although it would probably be for the best to do so) How will the team react to this new Sara?

Now don't feel shy just click on the button left below this, and leave your opinion. I don't if I'm gonna do pairings and if I am I have no idea which pairings it would be. So feel free to let me know what you would like with this story!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Sara was paired with Greg, they had a 419 in Henderson. A 9 year old girl was beaten to death, and her parents were somehow missing.

After they processed the scene for a couple of hours they headed back to the lab.

Sara was having a really hard time with the case and she was looking more and more forward towards her lunch break with Mark.

"Are you alright?" Greg asked. They were processing the evidence they collected, and Greg noticed that she was staring at the same spot for about 10 minutes now. The case was hard for her that was obvious. She had been so up beat when they drove to the scene, they were laughing and joking, he hadn't seen that Sara for a long time and he missed it. But the longer they were at scene the more her mood went downhill.

"Fine" she said. Of course she knew Greg wouldn't believe her, but she didn't feel like explaining why this case was so hard for her.

"Okay," he sounded disappointed "but if you ever need to talk you know where to find me!" he said with a wink, trying to get her to smile. Fortunately for him it worked, a tiny smile crept up Sara's lips.

"Thanks Greg, I'll keep that in mind." she glanced at the clock on the wall 11:45, Mark should be here in about 15 minutes. That is if he was going to show. Maybe he changed his mind about dating her after all. But before her thoughts could go any further, there was a voice over the intercom:

"Sara Sidle you have a visitor waiting for you in the reception hall."

Okay so he did show up.

"I think that's the first time in 6 six years that you have a visitor here." Greg commented. "Hot date?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I have a lunch date. So I'll be taking my break now. I'll see you in about an hour!" and she left the room. Leaving a very stunned Greg behind.

On her way to the reception hall, there were a lot of people staring at her curiously.

Mark was standing at the reception, he was looking around and picking at the fabric of his shirt. Sara smiled to herself, maybe she wasn't the only one who was a bit nervous.

She remembered him more clearly now, he had light brown hair, was a few inches taller then her, and was pretty good looking. 'You did good Sara' she thought to herself.

When Mark spotted her he smiled. "Hey Sara, you ready to go?"

"Yup, let's go."

They went to a really nice diner. They went here a couple of times with the team when they were discussing the case on a break.

"So you like this place, or do you want to go someplace else?" he nervously asked.

"No this place is good, I've been here a couple of times before and there food is pretty good."

He led them to a booth in the corner of the diner. And the waitress signaled that she was going to be over in a second.

"So.. crime lab huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's a pretty interesting job, never boring. Although sometimes I wish I hadn't seen some of the things that people do to each other. But other then that it's a great job."

"Yeah, I can imagine that."

"So what do you do?"

"Well I actually have a pretty boring desk job, the only thing I have to do is type in a couple of numbers and my job is done!" he said with a charming smile.

She laughed about it. "It can't be that bad, right?"

"It is actually."

"Then why do you do a job that you hate?"

"Well it was actually going to be a temporary job, but I kinda stuck to it, and it pays pretty good. I tried to quit one time, but then they offered me a promotion with a couple of bonuses on top of that, so I figured 'Ah what the hell, I'll stay put.' Now that I think about, it probably would be a better idea if I had just quit then and there."

She laughed "Maybe it was"

Then the waitress came to their table to take their orders.

They made small talk, and both had a pretty good time. They talked about college, his family (there was an uncomfortable moment when he asked about her family, but they got passed that fairly quickly) the things they wanted to accomplish in life and the reason why she was a vegetarian. He didn't get how someone could just give up meat like that, until she explained him how a decomposing pig looked and smelt liked.

They had such a great time that they forgot the time, when Sara looked at her watch she saw that it was 1:15!

"Shit!"

"Is the date that bad?" he said joking.

"No," she said laughing "I just promised my coworker I would be back in an hour and that was an hour and a half ago."

"Ahh.. I'll take you back to your work then." He said signaling for the check.

" Na-ah this one was on me!" he said when he saw her grab her wallet out of her purse.

She nodded and pursed her lips together so that her smile wouldn't get too big.

Mark paid for the check and they drove back to the lab.

"Well I had a really great time." Sara said.

"Yeah, me too. Maybe we can do it again sometime?"

"I think I would like that."

She wanted to get out of the car but his voice stopped her. "Wait! You forgot some thing" he said. Then he slowly moved towards her and softly kissed her lips. What they didn't notice was Nick, Warrick and Catherine pulling in the parking lot after getting back from their crime scene, and witnessing the whole thing.

"Guess she wasn't kidding when she said she was going to get a life!" Nick said with a surprised look on his face.

"There's no time like the present." Warrick said.

They watched for a few seconds and then decided to go inside.

After a few more kisses, Sara breaks it off. "I'm sorry but I really have to go now."

"That's okay, I'll call you."

"Alright, bye" she said while getting out of the car. She closed the door behind her and watched the car while it drove away. Then she walked inside the lab with a huge smile on her face.

When she got into the break room Warrick, Nick and Catherine were looking at her with an expecting look.

"What?"

"I think we should ask you that question" Catherine said "I didn't know you were seeing someone."

"I'm not, not really."

"O okay, so you just got into a strangers car and decided to kiss him?" Nick asked.

"You saw that?"

"Yeah we saw that, we just got back from our crime scene and then we see you kissing some guy in a car." says Warrick "So who is the lucky guy and how long are you seeing him?"

"His name is Mark, and this was actually our first date."

"Where did you meet him?" Catherine asked.

"I met him at a club 2 days ago."

Three faces looked at her as if she was growing a second head. Sara was pretty pleased with the effect actually. 'Bet they didn't expect that'.

Nick was the first to break the silence. "You went to a club?" at Sara's nod he continued "So you went to a club picked up a guy, you go on a date and you kiss him when you know him for barely two days?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Just doesn't seem like the Sara I know"

"Well I told you I was going to try and get a life, so I just have to change a couple of things about myself, and maybe this is one of them." Then she walked out of the break room in search for Greg to apologize and for an update on their case.

"Okay, I hope she knows what she's doing." Nick said.

"Yeah, I know. Let's just keep an eye on her just to be sure." Warrick responded.

"Guys she's a grown women who can do whatever she want. Besides if we go check up on her and she finds out she'll only gets pissed, and didn't we always tell her to get a life?" Catherine said.

"You're right, she should have a private life, it's just coming out of nowhere that she finally agrees to it."

Sara finally found Greg in the DNA lab.

"Hey sorry I was gone for so long, I just lost track of time."

"Don't worry about it, I know how dates can get!" he said with a wink, before updating her on the case.

At 4:30 she was still at the lab, she decided to call Riley to say that she's going to be a little late. They found the parents and she wanted to interview them and hopefully round up the case.

"Hey this is Riley"

"Hey it's Sara."

"Oh hey Sar, you're not calling me to blow the whole thing off right?"

"No , I'm just calling to say that I'm gonna be a bit late. I just have to do something for a case and hopefully finish it." She says with a sigh.

"Ow all right. You okay? You sound a bit troubled."

"Yeah I'm fine, just a tough case brings back some memories. I'll call you when I get off work!"

"Okay see you then! Ow and since we maybe don't have time to go shopping I'll pick something up for you okay? I work in fashion so I know what's hot right now, and I think I can guess your size."

"O-kay" Sara said doubt obviously in her voice. "Just don't make it too daring or anything."

"I won't, don't worry"

Sara put away her phone and went to the interrogation room.

After an hour of talking, the parents finally confessed. According to them their daughter was a brat, "Always looking for attention and nothing was ever good enough for her." That's what her father said.

When she finally finished with the case it was already 8:00. She was really tired and actually didn't feel like going to a party tonight. But she said she would go, and she would probably have a good time when she's there. She's not going to get any sleep anyway with the case still fresh on her mind. Maybe if she would just go out she would forget about the case.

**Authors note**: I know I promised that Sara would meet interesting people and get some interesting offers I this chapter, but I don't want to make the chapter too long. I'm going to write the next chapter right after uploading this chapter so it should be posted some time today! And thank you for the people who reviewed.

Ow and as in response to BrookeGreene I'm not going to kill off Sara, don't worry I'm too big of a Sara fan myself to do so! ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

"Hello"

"Hey Riley, it's Sara. I just wanted to let you know that I'm off work now."

"Great, I'll meet you at your apartment in 30 or 45 minutes." and she hang up the phone.

Sara decided to take a quick shower before Riley got there. When she got out of the shower it was already 9:05, Riley could be here any minute. She decided to keep her bathrobe on, she had to change in a couple of minutes anyway, so what's the point? She got some coffee, and waited for the doorbell to ring.

After about 5 minutes the doorbell rang. When she opened the door, she saw Riley standing in front of her, with three bags full of clothing.

"I said not _too_ daring, I didn't mean three layers of clothing." said Sara.

"Very funny, I just brought a lot of clothes so you would have something to choose from." Riley said while walking past Sara "I got skirts, pants, shorts, tank tops, mesh tops, short tops and t-shirts. We only got a couple of hours and we still have to do hair and make-up so we have to get started right away!"

"Why the rush, if we have a couple of hours we have plenty of time."

"Plenty of time? Of course we don't have plenty of time, getting ready for stuff like this will cost at least two hours!" Riley explained while throwing some clothes towards Sara. She ignored the incredulous look Sara sent her way. "Now go try on some of these clothes!" she said while watching her with an expecting look and making herself comfortable on the couch.

"All right, I'll be right back out." Sara said and went into her bathroom to change.

45 minutes later, they had finally found a good outfit for her to wear. They decided to go for a low cut jeans with a red top that came just above her bellybutton. Riley wore a short skirt, with a black tank top.

"All right now let's get started on our hair. I think you should leave your hair curly and put your hair in a pony tail or in a knot. But there have to be some loose strands or otherwise it's gonna be too neat."

"I'll just go for a ponytail then. What are you going to do with your hair?"

"I've already straightened my hair, so when we are going to Zack's, I just throw my hair loose and then I'm done!" she replied with a smile.

A little over an hour later they were finally done, hair, make up and clothing. Seems like Riley was right after all, it did take about two hours to get ready. They called a cab and headed towards Zack's house.

They got there at midnight. Zack's house was a little out of Vegas. There were no other houses nearby which was probably a good thing since the music coming from out of the house was pretty loud. So there would most likely be lot of complaints if there were other houses in the neighborhood. Zack's house looked pretty nice, although it was a bit hard to judge since it was dark, and there were a lot of people in front of the house.

"Come on let's go find Zack first, I can introduce you to him and then we can just see who else is here!" Riley said to her.

Sara followed Riley into the house and looked around at the people who were there. She was fairly certain she seen at least four of the people once at the police station, and she was beginning to have more doubts about going to this place. She would just meet the people that Riley wanted her to meet and then go home, she had to be at the lab in a couple of hours anyway so at least she got an excuse.

"Ah, there he is!" Riley said after a couple of minutes of searching. "Hey Zack!" she shouted.

"Riley! You made it!" he goes over to her and gives her a hug. "It's good to see you again, it's been awhile!"

"Yeah, I know. I've had some busy times, but it's all good again. I'd want you to meet a friend of mine Sara Sidle."

"It's very nice to meet you." Zack said while pulling Sara into a hug. She felt a bit uncomfortable with it, but decided to return the hug anyway.

"Nice to meet you too." she replied.

"Well there's an open bar in the kitchen, help yourself with anything you like. If you want to use the pool that's okay too. And if you need anything else," he winked at Riley "you know where to find me." with that he walked off in search for some of his friends.

"Okay, what did he mean by that last statement?" Sara asked Riley.

"O, nothing special. You'll find out sooner or later!" Riley told her with an mischievous grin.

"Come on let's go to the pool, my friends are probably there."

It was obvious that the party had begun quite some time ago, because a lot of the people weren't walking in straight lines anymore. The backyard was even more crowded then inside, most of the guys around the pool were clad in boxers and the girls either in bikini's or simply in their underwear.

"Riley!!" they heard from behind them. When they turned around they saw a girl walking their way.

"Mandy, good to see ya!" she said while giving the girl a hug. "Where's the rest of the group?"

"Just follow me!"

Mandy let them to one of the tables nearby the pool. There were 5 other girls sitting around the table and chatting, most of them were rapped in a towel and had already taken a dip in the pool. After they all exchanged hugs with Riley, Riley decided to introduce Sara.

"Everyone this is Sara, the girl I told you all about yesterday! Sara meet Mandy, Ali, Sam, Lizzy, Andrea and Ashley." she said while pointing to each of them.

When they had all shook hands with Sara, they of course started to ask her a lot of questions. Luckily she had already suspected this and had thought of some questions they would most likely ask her and the answers to them. When they were done with the 20 questions, and the promised tequila shot competition (This time she won 2 out of 3, so she made quite in impact) they started with some small talk.

After two hours Sara got bored, the rest of the group was getting harder to follow by the second, her guess because she was the only one who wasn't drinking any alcohol anymore. She had actually sobered up quite a bit already. Her mind started to drift off to the case again, she still didn't get how someone get just beat their own child to death. Just when she decided that she wasn't really in the mood to stick around here for much longer, her name was called by a familiar voice behind her.

"Sara, you made it!" Chris said waving her over. Sara quickly excused herself from the table and walked Chris' way.

"Yeah, I thought I could might as well make an appearance." she told Chris.

"Well I'm glad you came. You look really amazing by the way!" he said to her while looking at what she was wearing.

"Thanks" Sara said blushing a bit. "You look pretty good yourself. So are the others here too?"

"Yup, they're just getting a drink. Do you want something?"

"No, I've got to work in a couple of hours. I'm actually about to leave."

"You can't leave now, it's just getting started!"

"I'm sure that's true but I'm pretty tired, and I think I'm about the only one at this party who is not drunk so it's getting pretty hard to follow everyone."

"Well you know what, then this is going to be the first and last drink I have, so then you're not the only one sober here. Come on just stay, get some sleep after your shift!"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"What happened? You changed your mind about getting a life or something?" he asked her.

"No, I just… I had a bit of a tough case and it kind of got to me. I came here to try to forget about it all, hoping I got distracted enough to not think about it. But it's not really working so I might as well just go home and get some sleep."

"What was the case about then?"

Sara sighed "It was about a nine year old girl, who was beaten to death by her parents." She replied sadly.

"That's pretty rough. That would bother me too if I had seen something like that." Chris said. "But do you really think you can sleep if that case goes through your head all the time?"

"Well, no. But…."

"So what's the point in going home anyway. Here you have at least some company, and now that I'm here I can maybe distract you enough so that you're having a good time. Now what do you say?"

"I guess I can stick around for a little longer. But if I'm not having a good time in a half an hour I'm leaving!"

"All right, you got yourself a deal!" Chris said laughing. Then the others joined them with their drinks.

"What's so funny?" Russ asked.

"Sara and I just made a deal, and I'm gonna need your help." he said to Russ, Matt and Daniel.

"What kinda deal did you made then?" Matt asked.

"We have to make sure that she's enjoying herself within the next half an hour because otherwise she's going home. And we can't use any alcohol because she has to work in a couple of hours." he said reading their minds.

"Well that makes it a bit more complicated," Daniel replied "but still it shouldn't be a problem!"

They were right, after about half an hour Sara was enjoying herself again. And the case was almost forgotten. Almost. After awhile the guys noticed that she had spaced out again.

"Sara!" Matt shook her out of her daze.

"Huh what?" she asked.

"You spaced out again" Chris said "You have got to get that case out of your head, girl!"

"Yeah I know, it's just easier said then done"

Chris looked at her with an mischievous grin on his face. "You know we might know something that could make you forget, and by the time you have to work it will already be out of your system."

"What are you talking about Chris?" she asked, not at all liking where this is going.

"If you want to find out, you got to promise us first that this is never going to go to any of your friends in law enforcement" Matt said to her.

"Okay I promise this will just stick to us, but I don't know if I'm going to participate in whatever it is."

"Lets go find Zack then." Chris said ignoring her last statement.

Sara had a pretty good idea what they were talking about it, and was asking herself again if it was such a smart idea to came here. They found Zack alone in the kitchen pouring himself a drink.

"Hey Zack, you got something?" Chris asked.

"You know me." he said, he started to get something out of his pocket, but then noticed Sara and eyed her suspiciously, "Is she good?" he asked Chris.

"Yeah she's cool don't worry."

"All right then, here you go." he handed Chris something that Sara couldn't see. "You know the drill, not in plane sight, here's the key to my room, go there and clean up when you're done."

"We will, thanks man."

"No problem, have fun!" he said while walking out of the room.

"Well let's go then." Chris led them up the stairs and used the key to unlock one of the doors. When the door was locked behind him again, he showed Sara a little bag with some white powder inside, what she could only assume was cocaine. Yep she definitely started to regret ever coming here.

"This will definitely make you forget about your case." Chris said to her.

"Are you kidding me? One I've never used cocaine before, two I have to be at work in 4 hours and three I've seen what this stuff can do to you. What if it's too pure, or I don't react well to it?" she asked incredulous.

"One it's definitely not too pure, Zack goes to a guy who's practically the best in the business. Two like I already told you, by the time you get to work it's already out of your system. Three it would finally make you forget about your case and everything else that's going wrong in your life. And four you never tried it ever?" Matt said.

"No I didn't, I never really had the chance and I didn't have the need to use it."

"Just try it for one time if you don't like it, we'll never talk to you about it again. If you do like it, then this is just the beginning. Come on what do you got to lose?"

Sara looked at the little bag dangling in front of her. It would be a great opportunity to finally forget some things about her past. And you got to try everything at least one time before you can really have an opinion about it, right?

But on the other hand she knew what drugs could do to you, she remembered very clearly what happened three years ago at that high school. One of the cheerleaders, Mandy Kirk, was actually killed because some stupid kids had used drugs and didn't realize what the effect could be. (A/N: Season 3, don't know the name of the episode) And what would her colleagues think about her if they would ever find out? She knew it was very unlikely that they ever would, but still!

Russ' voice got her out of her mental debate. "So, what do you say? Are you in, or are you out?"

**Authors note**: Another chapter done!! Just let me know what you think! Well now I'm really going to do some studying, otherwise I'm screwed tomorrow!!! ;)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

Everyone looked at Sara expectantly, waiting for her answer.

"I guess trying it won't hurt anyone." she eventually answered.

"You're not going to regret this, I promise you Sar!" Russ responded enthusiastic.

"But you're sure it's completely out of my system at eight?"

"Yeah we're sure, we've used this stuff a couple of times before you know." Matt said. "All right I'll make you a line, and all you have to do is suck it in on this little straw." he said showing her the straw. "I'll do one first so you can be sure you're not going to OD because it's to pure or anything." Matt made a line with his credit card and easily sucked it in. "Zack got some good stuff tonight." he commented.

"All right Sar, your turn." Matt said while handing her the straw and made a line for her.

Sara nervously took the straw and looked down at the line Matt had made for her. It wasn't that big of a deal right? Just a little line to try it out. You got to try everything at least ones. She brought the straw to her nose, and sucked the line up. It was a very weird sensation through her nose.

"Congratulations! You just lost your virginity!" Chris said to her while giving her a hug. "and don't worry the effect is already gone after half an hour, hour tops."

The guys all had two or three lines, Sara refused at first to take another line, but after the effects started to kick in she agreed. It was a great feeling. All her problems looked so small all of a sudden, laughable actually and the tired feeling she had was absolutely gone.

When they got downstairs they ran into Riley. "Where have you guys been? I've been looking all over for you." she had obviously sobered up a bit since the last time Sara saw her.

"We just made Sara lose her virginity!" Daniel stated proudly.

"Really?" she looked at Sara for confirmation. When she saw her nod her head, she gave her a big hug. "That's so great! I actually thought it would take awhile before we got you convinced to do it, especially since you're in law enforcement and such!"

"Yeah well, these people convinced me otherwise."

"It took us awhile to convince her, but we're pro's in that department so." Chris told her.

"Well congratulations! And the next time you decide to use something, warn me will ya? I could have used something!"

"Well in that case you're lucky because I still have some left." Chris said discreetly slipping her the little bag.

"Thank you, and if you would give me the keys, I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Chris took the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Riley.

"We'll be on the dance floor!" he called after her.

After about an hour dancing Sara felt the energy draining from her, it was obvious that the drug had worn of. Too bad, she really liked the feeling it gave her.

"We're gonna go upstairs again, you coming or did you have your share for tonight?" she heard Chris whisper in her ear from behind.

Sara contemplated it for a second but then decided she might as well enjoy the feeling for this one night. "No, I'll come." she told Chris who smiled at her when hearing it. On her way upstairs she saw that it was 4:15 so she still had some time before shift started. Work is gonna be hell, she thought to herself.

At 6:45 the party was slowly ending, and Sara realized that if she wanted to make it to shift in time she had to hurry. She thanked Zack for the party and said goodbye to her friends, who were going to stay and help Zack with the clean up.

She got home half an hour later, and was thoroughly exhausted. Now she was starting to regret the night, well she didn't really regret it but she had an eight hour long shift ahead of her, and she was already dead on her feet. She took a quick shower, grabbed some clothes and something to eat and headed out the door.

The moment she walked into the break room she headed straight for the coffee. It wasn't Greg's special blend but at the moment she didn't care. She was the first to arrive, well knowing Grissom he was already there but in his office. After she was done with her coffee she grabbed a magazine, sat down on the coach and started to read it. After she had read a few words she was fast asleep.

What Sara didn't know was that the team had been paged two hours earlier. A case had suddenly came up, there had been a car accident and it was a pretty big scene. Grissom had paged everyone to get there ASAP, everybody got there half an hour after the page, everyone but Sara.

"I think we're about done here Grissom." Catherine said walking towards him.

"Then let's go back to the lab, the sooner we find out what happened here the better."

"You've heard anything from Sara yet?"

"No. I'm getting a bit worried. Normally she's the first one to respond to a page and she wasn't answering her sell phone either."

"Well she did say something about trying to getting a life, maybe she left her pager at home and went out."

"Catherine it's a quarter past eight and she had to work today. Even if she did decide to have a private life, she should have already been here. And besides do you really think Sara would go out until this late when she knows she has to work the next morning?"

"I'm sure everything is fine." Catherine said but silently agreeing with him. "Let's just go to the lab she might be there already." And with that they got all the evidence they collected in the car and drove to the lab.

As soon as they entered the lab, Grissom got held down by Ecklie wanting an update on the case. Nick, Warrick, Greg and Catherine all went to the break room to get some coffee and a small break.

"You think Sara's already here?" Greg asked them.

"I hope so," Nick said "if not I'm taking a quick drive to her apartment to see if she's….." he stopped mid sentence when he spotted the sleeping figure on the couch. "Well would you look at that. Sleeping beauty."

"How long do you think she's been here?" Warrick wondered.

"My guess, since the beginning of our shift, so about 45 minutes." Catherine said while glancing at the clock. "Looks like she needed that sleep though."

"I don't think she got much sleep at home," Greg replied "she took the case we were working on yesterday pretty hard, she was probably up all night thinking about it."

"But still it's not like her to just fall asleep at the beginning of shift, I mean there were lots of times she didn't get sleep for a couple of days but she never fell asleep. We always had to force her to go home once in a while." Warrick said.

"Let's just wake her up before anyone sees her sleeping in here." Nick stated "Then we can ask her." He walked over to the couch and gently tried to shake her awake. Eventually they heard Sara groan a bit. "Come on Sara, it's time to wake up." he said in a taunting voice. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him a bit confused. When she looked around she realized she fell asleep in the break room.

"Damn it, I didn't mean to fall asleep!" she said while slowly getting up. "Why didn't you guys wake me sooner?" she asked when she saw what time it was.

"We would, but we just got here. We were at a crime scene, you were supposed to be there too but you never responded to the page." Catherine told her with a bit of anger in her voice.

"I'm so sorry, I left my pager at home!" Sara said mentally slapping herself.

The others looked at each other, all with the same question on their mind. "Grissom paged you around 6, if you weren't home then what were you doing?" Warrick asked.

Uh-oh, busted! Well done Sara! "I uh… I couldn't sleep so I uh… went for walk." It didn't even sound believable in her own ears, and it was obvious from the looks on everyone's face they didn't believe a word from what she just said. But before anyone could respond Grissom walked in.

"All right everyone, let's discuss what we have so far." Then he noticed Sara sitting on the couch. "Where have you been? I paged you about 3 hours ago!"

"Sorry, my pager and I were separated for a couple of hours."

"It's okay, I'm just glad you all right. But don't let it happen again!"

"I won't, don't worry." Grissom nodded, and updated her on the case. After that he told them all what to do and they got to work.

At the end of shift, Sara was more then exhausted. She could've expected it. She was up for about 36 hours now, and she had been to a party during that time were she had a total of 6 tequila shots, and had taken some cocaine. No wonder she was exhausted. She got to the locker room and quickly grabbed her stuff, she didn't want to run into any of her colleagues. If she did they were going to ask her questions about what she had been doing last night, and she didn't think she had the energy to lie to them. She put on her coat and headed to the exit. She sighed in relieve when she had made it into her car. She put the keys in the ignition and was about to drive when Nick jumped in front of the car.

She leaned back in her seat in defeat. "So close!" she said to herself.

Nick opened the door of the drivers seat. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked her.

"Well I was about to go home to get some sleep."

"Not before you tell me what's going on, and do you really think I'm letting you drive if you're about to fall asleep at the steering wheel?"

"I guess not, but Nick I'm really tired and nothing is really going on, so there's really not much explaining to do."

"When's the last time you have eaten?"

"I had some crackers before shift. Why?" she was a little taken of guard with his sudden question.

"That's what I thought. Go sit in the passenger seat, I'm driving and we're going someplace to eat and talk first and then I'm taking you home so you can sleep. No room for arguments." he said to her strictly.

"Yeah, all right." she said with a sigh, she knew there was no point in arguing anyway.

Nick drove them the diner were they always went with the team. After they had sat down and placed their orders, Nick decided to get straight to the point.

"So, what did you _really_ do last night?" he asked her.

"It was no big deal okay. Some friends asked me to come to a party because apparently it was a pretty big thing and I ended up staying there until almost 7 in the morning." She nonchalantly answered, hoping Nick would leave it at that.

"And you thought that was a smart idea after you had a rough case and when you had to work the next morning?"

"I didn't mean to stay until that late," she paused for a moment when the waitress came with their food. "I just figured I'd go there for a couple of hours, try to get my mind of that case. You always told me to get a life and to go out more, and now that I'm actually trying to get a life it's not good either?" she asked getting frustrated.

"I didn't say it wasn't a good thing that you're trying to get a life, I'm just saying that you need to take care of yourself too. And coming into work extremely tired isn't exactly doing that." he said more softly now.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let that happen again. I just wanted to get the case out of my head, and have some fun."

"Well next time if you want to get your mind of things you know you can always call me right?"

"I know Nick, and I promise you next time I will." she told him. But she doubted she would really take up on his offer.

"Okay, that's all I wanted to know. Now let's eat shall we." Nick said to her, sounding a lot more at ease.

After dinner, Nick drove her to her apartment. "I'll pick you up tomorrow before work, so I'm borrowing you're car until then."

"All right, see you then." she yawned while getting out of the car.

"And really get some sleep now okay?"

"I will, don't worry." she told him and walked into her apartment building.

The first thing she noticed when she got into her apartment was that she had 8 new messages. But before she could press play, her phone rang again.

"This is Sara." she answered.

"Hey Sara, it's Mark. I was wondering if you would like to have dinner tonight?"

"Uh.. tonight is not really a good time. I haven't slept for almost 40 hours so I'm going to catch up on that now."

"O okay" he sounded disappointed "Are you free tomorrow night then?"

"Yeah, I think tomorrow night would be good."

"Okay great! Should I pick you up around 7?"

"7 would be good."

"And what's your address? I think it come in handy if I knew where you lived, otherwise I'll probably be late." he said jokingly.

She laughed and gave him her address.

"Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow at seven! And have a good night sleep." he said to her.

" Thanks, I'll see tomorrow then." she said before hanging up the phone. She smiled to herself. She actually got a second date! And Mark seems like a nice guy too, not like most of the guys she had dated.

She pressed the play button on her answering machine. Four of the messages were from Grissom. Asking were she was and why she wasn't answering her page. One was from Greg, wanting an explanation why she was asleep in the break room and where she was last night, and this time the truth. He sounded pretty worried, she would just tell him the same thing she had told Nick at dinner. The other three messages where from Riley, Chris and Matt saying they had a great time last night and that they have to do it again sometime soon. After she had listened to her messages she put on her sweats and a tank top and finally went to bed.

**Authors note**: A big thank you for all the people who have reviewed the story, always good to know people are reading and liking the story so far!

In the next chapter Sara and Mark go on they're second date. And Sara gets together again with Chris, Riley, Matt, Russ and Daniel. Will they get into trouble? Stay tuned if you want to find out!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 

After a few good hours of sleep Sara felt a lot better. She took a shower and went to grab something to eat. Or at least she planned to get something to eat, but when she opened her fridge she saw that it was almost empty. The only products she still had in her fridge were a couple of days over the expiration date. She threw everything out, and decided to just go to a diner before shift to get something to eat.

She sat down on the couch and put the TV on, after going through all the channels about ten times, she put on a "Friends" DVD. But after watching for a couple of minutes her mind started to wonder to the date she had that evening. What should she wear? Should she put on any make-up, or put on any jewelry? Maybe she should call Mark to ask if they were going to a fancy place or anything. Or she could call Riley, she would know what to do right? She has probably been on lots of dates. She grabbed her phone and dialed Riley's number.

"Hello?" she heard Riley answer with pretty loud music in the background.

"Hey, it's Sara."

"Sara, hi! What can I do for you? Are you bored? Cause if you are you should come to club28 it's a blast!"

"No I'm not bored. I just wanted to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot!"

"Well you know that guy I went on a date with a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah"

"Well I'm going to have dinner with him tonight, and I have no idea what to wear or anything. I mean I don't even know where we are going, how am I supposed to know what to wear? Should I just call and ask him where we are going?"

"All right, all right. Just calm down okay. You don't need to call him, just wear something a bit casual you know. Not too dressy, but also not your everyday clothing. Just something in between that can go with several occasions. Do you have something like that?"

"Uh… No I don't think so. I only have one dress and that was for some sort of gala, so that would be too dressy."

"Are you kidding me? You have only one dress? Do you have any skirts or something?"

"No, remember I don't really go out or anything, so why would I have the clothing for it."

"Yeah, well now that you hang out with me and the guys, you are going out so you're going to need some new clothes. All right your shift ends at four right? I'll come by your work, pick you up and we're gonna go shopping and buy some clothes for you to wear tonight. And we're also going to buy some skirts, shorts and tops that you can wear for when we go out."

"Okay but I should warn you, I am not a shopping kind of girl."

"Oh we'll see about that, after I'm done with you, you can't live without shopping!"

Sara laughed "Well then you got your wok cut out for ya! But thanks for trying, I really appreciate it! Mark's going to pick me up at seven, so we should be back by then."

"Hey no problem. I'll see you at four!" and then she hang up the phone.

At least she got the problem half solved. But she had the feeling that there was something Riley wasn't telling her cause she sounded a little to exciting.

She watched some more TV and then went to work. As usual she was the first to arrive and this time she knew for sure she wasn't paged or called, because she had them with her all day. She grabbed some coffee and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. After a couple of sips of her coffee she felt her stomach rumble. Right, she was supposed to pick something up before work. Sara knew she was forgetting something but she couldn't figure out what it was. Before she could ponder on that topic any further, Nick came in.

"Hey, you're awake this time!" he said to her jokingly.

"Very funny."

"You sleep alright?"

"Yes, I slept a few good hours and I feel a whole lot better now."

"Good, glad to hear that. So have you eaten properly?" he asked her suspiciously.

"Okay what's up with the 20questions?"

"I'll take that as a no. Didn't we talk about this yesterday?"

"Yeah I know. It wasn't on purpose I just didn't have anything to eat that wouldn't give me food poisoning, so I decided to go to a diner before shift to get something to eat but I forgot. It's no big deal okay."

"All right, just remember next time okay?" Nick decided to drop it for now, although he was going to keep an eye on her just in case.

Shift was again exhausting, it was of course still the same case as yesterday. They had a few breaks, but they all turned out to be dead ends. So they were still at square one. It was five minutes 'til the end of shift, and actually looked like it was going to be a double for all of them. Sara thought that maybe she could have a chat with Grissom to ask him if she could leave because she had other plans. She had never asked something like that, so it should be fine, right? She found Grissom in his office, going through the case file again.

"Hey Grissom, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure Sara, come in." Sara walked in and took a seat in the chair that sat besides his desk. "Did you find something on the case?"

"Actually no. I came hear to ask you something. I know that everyone is pulling a double, but I kind of had plans after shift and I was wondering if I could maybe leave now?"

Grissom looked at her with concern "Is everything all right?" he asked her.

"Yes everything is fine really. I just have plans."

"Are you sure? Because you've been acting strange ever since the shift changed."

"I'm sure Griss. Can I go or do you need me to stay?"

"You can go, but if something is wrong you know you can talk to me right?"

"I know" Sara said, she stood up and walked out of the door. She went to the locker room to gather her stuff. Just when she was about to walk out she bumped into Warrick and Nick.

"Where you going Sar?" Warrick asked her "We're supposed to pull a double remember?"

"I know, but I've got plans so I asked Grissom if I could go early." Nick eyed her suspiciously when she said she had plans "Don't worry I'm not going to do anything stupid." 'I think' she added to herself.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure."

"All right, see you guys. And good luck with the rest of your shift!" With that she walked out of the locker room and headed toward the reception area, where she saw Riley waiting for her in one of the chairs.

"Wow, five past four. Not so bad for a workaholic! I would have expected you to come for at least another twenty minutes." Riley said to her.

"Well thank you I guess. Now let's go cause we don't have that much time."

"I know, that's why I brought reinforcement." Riley said while walking out of the lab.

"You brought reinforcement? Who the hell did you bring?" Sara while following her.

"I brought Chris and Daniel, there're great at shopping. And the best part is they're also straight!"

"Why is that the best part?"

"Most guys who are good at shopping and who like to shop, are gay. So then we can't get a good reaction out of them when we're trying something on. Chris and Dani are definitely not gay, so we can judge by their reaction if we should buy something or not. Now come on there're waiting!" she pushed Sara into the car and drove to the mall.

Chris and Daniel were waiting for them by the fountain. "Finally you girls made it." Chris said to them. "We only gotta hurry we only got a couple hours left!"

"We already went to a couple of stores to look at some clothes. We asked them to keep them behind the counter for awhile. So we're gonna go to that store first." Daniel said while pointing to a store that seemingly sells dresses. "We're going to get the dress first because that is our priority, they sell shoes to so we already picked some shoes out for you too. So let's go!" he dragged Sara to the store. Once they got into the store, the cashier came to them immediately and handed them a couple of dresses. Sara got rushed into the fitting room, and tried on the first dress. It was red and came a little below her knees, was spaghetti strapped and was a bit loose. It was obviously not the dress to go with, and after the confirmation of the guys and Riley she went to try the next dress. Two dresses later, she tried on a black one, the dress went 'til her knees, it was pretty tight and showed of her curves perfect, and it was strapped behind her neck leaving her back partly uncovered. When she went out of the fitting room it was obvious from the faces of Chris and Daniel that this was the dress to go with. Their mouths practically dropped to the floor.

"That dress is perfect Sara!" Riley said.

"Yeah its uh… I mean it's looks really great." Daniel said. While Chris was still just staring at her, making Sara blush a bit.

"See this is what I meant with the reaction we can get from them." Riley told her. Sara laughed at her and went back into the fitting room to change into her clothes. When she had changed she tried on the shoes that Daniel and Chris had picked for her, and eventually found a good pair. They were black strapped sandals, with two inch heels. Then they went for jewelry. Sara insisted that she had something at home, but they convinced her to buy it anyway. "A girl can't have enough jewelry" is what Riley told her. When they were done with her outfit for the evening they went shopping for other clothing. When it was five thirty, Sara had loads of new outfits. It was actually pretty useful that Chris and Daniel had already picked some clothes out in each store, it went a lot faster like this and they did have a time limit. She was having a great time too. Normally she wasn't the shopping kind of girl, but she had a lot of fun shopping with them, and she thought shopping with them again sometime would be pretty great. Her bank account wouldn't agree with her but what the hell, she had so much saved up from not doing anything in the last six years that she could afford it.

"All right, now the only thing we have to do, is get you a new haircut and a mani/pedi and get your make-up done and then we go home so we can get you dressed!" Riley told her.

"Why do I need a new haircut?" Sara asked her.

"Well you're going into a new direction right? So a new haircut is necessary!" Chris said.

"Don't worry it's not going to be a drastic change, just maybe some highlights and a new model. We've already made you an appointment so we've got to hurry."

When they got to the hair dresser, Sara was put into a chair immediately. And before she knew it someone was cutting pieces of of her hair. When the woman was done with the cutting, she got the hair dye, it was a little lighter brown then her own hair. When the dye was in her hair, the woman said that she had to wait for half an hour before she could wash in out. So she started to her fingernails and toenails. After half an hour she washed Sara's hair blow dried it and let Sara see the result. It actually looked pretty nice. It was a bit shorter and in layers, and dyed light brown with highlights in it.

"Now all we have to do is do you're make-up and then you're all done." The woman said to her. When she was done she headed towards the fountain were Riley, Chris and Daniel were waiting for her. When they turned around they looked at her approvingly.

"You look really great Sar." Chris said to her.

"See I told you it would look great!" Riley said while giving her a hug. "You do like it right?"

"Yeah, I really do."

"Good! Now let's get to your house, so you can change and get ready for your big date!"

They drove to her apartment, and Sara putt her dress, shoes and jewelry on. She showed her total outfit to the three people in her apartment, and was glad that they liked it. Just when she was all set, the door bell rang.

"Be there in a minute!" she shouted. "Guys I really want to thank you for what you did for me today, I really appreciate it. Couldn't have done it by myself."

"Don't worry about it. We had a great time!" Daniel told her.

"Yeah we did. Promise us one thing though." Chris said.

"What?"

"When your date is over, come over to the club and tell us all about it!"

"All right I will. Now I gotta go, see you guys later tonight. And thanks again!"

She opened the door, and saw Mark standing in front of her door with a bunch of roses, which he handed to her.

"For you." He told her. "I hope you like them, I didn't know what your favorite flowers are, so I picked roses."

"Of course I like them, they're beautiful. Thank you so much."

"Good" he seemed relieved "Shall we then?" he said while offering his arm. Sara excepted his arm closed the door behind her, and let Mark lead her to his car.

**Authors note**: I know, I know, it's been awhile since I've updated. But I've been a bit busy working and of course celebrating that my exams are over. Now all I've got to do is hope that I've actually passed and that I didn't 'study' for nothing! I'll try to update more regularly from now on. Hope you liked this chapter!

xxx lois


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

They pulled up at a beautiful restaurant just outside of Vegas. It was up a hill and Mark had made reservations for a table on the balcony of the restaurant, so that they had a perfect view over the light shows of Las Vegas.

"Wow, this place is beautiful!"

"I know. I found out about this place from my parents. They had their anniversary a couple of days ago, and told me that this was a really nice restaurant and that the service was pretty good too. So I checked it out for our date and thought that this table at the balcony was perfect. The weather is supposed to be good tonight so that shouldn't be a problem, but if you get a bit chilly just tell me and I'll lend you my jacket." he said with a smile.

"No I'm fine now, but I'll let you know when I'll get cold." she said smiling back at him. She started looking at menu to see what she wanted to order. Luckily they had a lot of vegetarian dishes so she had a lot to choose from.

"According to my parents the steaks here are amazing." Mark said looking at his own menu. "You wanna try that out?"

"Oh, I'm a vegetarian so I'm gonna pass on the steak."

"Really you're a vegetarian? How come?" he asked seemingly interested.

"Well I really love animals," she said "and when you've seen a pig decomposing you kinda lose your appetite in meat, at least I did."

"Ah... enough said. I don't think I would ever look at meat the same way either if I saw that. Do they have enough vegetarian meals? I didn't check before I made reservations."

"Oh don't worry, they have plenty for me to choose from. I think I'm going to take the pasta salad, actually."

"That sounds like an excellent choice, in fact I think I'm going to join you on that one." Mark said.

"You can order the steak if you want, I don't have a problem with that."

"No no, tonight I'm going to be a vegetarian, that way you don't have to be grossed out by what's on my plate and you can thoroughly enjoy this evening."

"Well in that case I'm not going to stop you." Sara told him smiling.

The waitress came to take in their orders. They had a great time together, it was just their second date but it felt like it was their twelfth. Sara had the feeling he was really interested in her. Something she hadn't felt in years. Maybe this getting a life thing was working out for her after all.

After they were done with dinner and paid the bill (Mark paid eventually after he had convinced Sara that he would) Mark suggested they walk around for awhile and watch the lights of Vegas. After they walked for about 15minutes, they decided to sit down for awhile.

"I really had a great time." Sara told him.

"What coincident, I had a great time as well." he told her jokingly.

"You really are full of comments like that aren't you?"

"It keeps everyone around me on their toes so it's for their own good." he said to her "but I can be serious if I want to, I just don't show it a lot but if it's necessary I can be serious. It's just that if you have the job that I do, when you walk out of their you have al this bottled up energy and I tend to let that go by making jokes. Its' also a pretty good stress reliever. And it would work out pretty good for you to."

"Oh really, and why's that?" she asked wondering what he was up to.

"Well don't get this the wrong way or anything, but I kinda got the impression that you're a bit stressed, and if you got someone like me to joke around with and to cheer you up, you can calm down a bit." he told her. Sara looked at him trying to see if he was really serious about how stressed she looked, looking at his eyes she could see he was. She looked away looking at the lightshows of Vegas.

Mark kept looking at her. He really liked Sara, he just felt like he had a hard time letting her open up to him. To him it felt like they were only talking about him. His childhood, his family, his friends, his work, his life outside work. She was a good listener and she did participate into the conversation, but every time he asked something about her she managed to shift the conversation back to him. She just looked stressed and it seemed like she had the whole world on top of her. He knew it was only their second date and that this may not be his place to ask, but trying couldn't hurt, right?

"Am I right?" he suddenly asked.

"Right about what?" Sara asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Are you really so stressed?"

"Comes with the job." she answers.

"It just doesn't really look like it's just the job. I think it maybe could partially be your private life." he carefully stated.

"Is this what you meant with your serious side?"

"Yes, and this is also one of the reasons why I think it's not just your job that keeps you stressed." Sara frowned at him waiting to explain "Every time I ask you something about your life you switch it back on me! I hope you don't think I'm crossing any lines here, especially since it's our second date, but I like you and I want to know stuff about you. You don't have to tell me your whole life story just give me something to go on." he said to her never breaking eye contact.

Sara looked at him. She sighed and started looking at the lights again. Just when Mark thought he maybe did cross a line she started talking. "I just have a lot of problems I have to work out, and I'm actually just starting with it. I always burry myself in my work when something is bothering me, but lately that wasn't really working anymore." She stopped for a moment trying to determine how much she was going to tell him. Somehow she was feeling comfortable sharing this information with Mark.

"My colleagues were always telling me to get a life, but I never really listened. Then we had this conversation not so long ago, and it came down to it that they didn't think I was capable of creating a life for myself, so I decided to prove them wrong and go out and try to make new friends. I always worked a lot of overtime and just went home to sleep and eat, that way I didn't have time to think about my problems, but now that I'm trying to cut down on the overtime I have a lot of free time on my hands and I also have a lot of time to think about everything, and it's just…" she stopped trying to find the right word.

"Hard? Overwhelming?" Mark asked.

"Yeah. And I'm sorry if I don't really share much, but that's what I've been doing my whole life. It's difficult to change a habit like that and allow someone in your life, and it's going to take some time before I can really let someone in." she explained to him.

Mark looked at her nodded "Thank you," he said "for sharing that with me. I feel like I know you a little better already." he put his arm around her and together they watched the view for awhile. It was starting to get really chilly though, Mark already put his jacket around Sara, but she was still a bit cold and truth be told he was getting a bit cold himself to.

"Hey I'm having a great time," Mark said after awhile "but what do you say we head back?"

"That's probably a good idea, because I think were both getting a bit cold." Sara said.

Mark helped her up and together they walked to the car, Marks arm still around her shoulder. When they got to the car Mark again opened the door for her, it made her feel a bit special, she knew it was a silly thought, but still.

When they arrived to her apartment building, Mark offered to walk her to her apartment door. After a few kisses at her door, Sara started to contemplating rather to invite him into her apartment building or not. She was trying new things right? And she did feel really comfortable with Mark, maybe it couldn't hurt to invite him in see were it goes.

"You maybe wanna come in and drink a cup of coffee or something?" she cautiously asked.

"Yeah, I would like that" Mark said.

Sara opened the door and walked in, Mark follows her and closes the door behind him.

A/N: You all must hate me know, don't you? I'm really sorry I haven't updated in awhile, well it's not exactly awhile more like a couple of months. I've just been really busy, even though it was vacation. I was working and in the beginning of the vacation I was almost never home because I was celebrating that the year was over and that we had all passed (I actually have a diploma now ;) !!! ) But I know it's not a really good excuse. I hope I didn't lose all my readers because of the long wait, but hey at least I'm going to try and finish the story right? I also know that this is a really lousy chapter, but I'm going to try to update somewhere else this week. I'm not making any promises though, because you never know with me! Anyway I hope you like this chapter, and please review I can get the next chapter up faster if I have some feedback!

**xxx Lois**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next morning Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg were sitting in the break room waiting for the assignments and Sara and Grissom. It was still ten minutes before shift, so they were all talking a bit before they would have to go to their assignments.

"You know when Ecklie told us we were going to transfer to days I was a bit reluctant at first, but now I'm really glad about it. In the last couple of days I've been to the movies with Lindsay, I've finally seen one of her dance recitals, I haven't seen one of those in four months, and I've actually went to my mothers birthday without being paged to a crime scene!" Catherine stated.

"Yeah I know what you mean, I'm catching up with a lot of long lost friends, and I like it. But I'm not letting myself get used to this, because before you know it Ecklie's putting us back to graveyard again if he gets one of his tempers." Nick replied.

"Well I hope that's not the case, because this works fine for me, and another pro about this switch, I think we finally managed to get through Sara. I don't think she has worked more then necessary since all this." Warrick chimed in.

"Yeah, but I'm wondering if she's not going a little overboard, I mean that time when she was late and then we caught her sleeping in the break room, that worried me a bit." Nick said. "It just doesn't seem like the Sara we know."

"I think she took that conversation we had the other day a little hard, but it hasn't happened again after that and she does seem happier so I guess everything is just fine." Catherine stated.

"Speaking of Sara it's five minutes before shifts starts, shouldn't she have been her by now?" Greg asked looking at the clock.

"Talking about me were you?" came a voice from the doorway.

Everyone turned towards the door, to see Sara standing there.

"We were just wondering what you've been up to this last week." Greg said obviously fishing for some information.

"I already told you getting myself a life, and no I'm not giving you anymore information."

"Fine, but you know we will find out eventually. We're CSI's you know."

"Well I know how to hide the evidence."

Before they could continue their conversation Grissom walked in.

"All right guys, no new cases today, but the there's a lot of paperwork to do that the previous dayshift hasn't had the time to finish, so Catherine you and me are continuing with the car accident, Greg, Warrick, Sara and Nick start working on the paperwork, in case you're done with all the paperwork you can help with the rest of the workload in the lab." and with that Grissom turned on his heels and headed for his office.

"All right that was a short talk." Catherine stated.

"Maybe he still has to get used to the different hours. I know I am." Sara said.

"I know what you mean, I like that we're on days now and I'm having a great time and all, but it's going to take awhile to get used to all of this." Nick said. Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. They got a cup of coffee and then Catherine went in search for Grissom, the rest stayed behind in the break room and started doing their paperwork

After two hours of paperwork, Sara suddenly felt her cell phone vibrating. Without looking at the caller ID she picked it up. "Sidle"

"_Well aren't we being formal today."_ came Mark's voice through the other side of the phone.

Sara smiled when she heard his voice, which didn't go unnoticed by the other people occupying the room. "Sorry, I just automatically picked my phone up on work style without checking the callers ID."

"_It's okay, so how's work?" _

"Oh I'm having a blast with all the paperwork here."

"_You're lucky you don't have to do it every single day 5 days a week, 8 hours a day." _

"Then go find a job you like, instead of sticking with this."

"_I know, __but it's kinda hard to that when you have no idea what you do like." _

"Then start looking."

"_I would, but lately I've found oth__er things that keep me occupied, during the day and night." _

"Oh yeah," Sara said smiling "Like what?"

"_Hmmmm…. Let's see, it involves going to restaurants, having lunch, and other 'activities'_." Mark said referring to last night_. "Ring any bells?" _

"Sounds familiar, I think I've been doing stuff like that outside of work to."

"_Well isn't that a coincident." _

"Weird isn't it?"

"_Oh by the way that reminds me, I think I accidentally left my keys at your apartment this morning, they've __probably fallen out of my jeans and since I can't get into my house without my keys, maybe we can get together after work?" _

"Oh really and you didn't noticed that the keys fell out of your pocket in my apartment?" Sara asked suspiciously.

"_You're not accusing me from leaving them at your place on purpose__ just to see you again are you?"_ Mark said feigning innocence.

"Of course I'm not accusing you of that, I was just wondering." Sara said playing along. She heard Mark laughing on the other side of the phone.

"_So what do you say, you want to get together after shift or should I just sleep on the street tonight?" _

"Though choice, but this is Vegas so if you would sleep on the street something will probably happen to you, so then I would have more work to do. So I guess we have to get together after shift then." Sara said with a sigh.

"_Well aren't you sweet, so should I pick you up around four?" _

"Well since we carpooled I don't have a car here, so that would probably be a good idea."

"_Okay, then I'll see you this afternoon!" _

"See you then"

"_Bye" _

"Bye"

Sara hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket, and then continued her paperwork again as if nothing has happened.

"You know I actually expected that conversation to end with series of' 'No, you hang up'." Warrick said.

"Huh..?" When she looked up she saw three perplexed faces staring at her.

"That phone call you just got."

"Oh that," Sara said nervously "that was just some guy…."

"Who accidentally left his keys at your apartment after they fell out of his pocket?" Greg asked.

Sara felt her cheeks getting a deep shade of red, and decided to try to focus on her paperwork again.

"Got a little bit of action going on Sar?" Nick asked.

"All right maybe I do."

"Is this the same guy who we saw you kissing with in the parking lot?" Warrick asked.

"Yep" Sara said getting uncomfortable "can we just drop this?"

"You hardly know this guy a week and you've already slept with him?"

"What's the big deal, it's not like it's a one night stand we're just heading a little fast into this. He looks like a good guy, and he obviously wasn't just out on a one night stand because he left his key at my place so he could see me again today. Can we drop this now?"

"Okay, sorry we were just wondering." Nick said. And with that they all went to their paperwork again.

**A/N: Hey everyone, still not a very fast post but it's at least faster then the last time right!! I'm working on the next chapter which hopefully will be a bit longer and more interesting. ****Feel free to review! xxx Lois**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Chapter 10

Shift was almost over. Just another half an hour and then she can go home. Sara's really excited to see Marc again. Last night was amazing. After they got to her place they drank some coffee, watched some TV and talked a little. At least that's how it has begun. But as the night continued they found themselves moving to the bedroom.

He asked if she really wanted this and that he didn't want to push her into doing anything she didn't want to. But she actually wanted this, needed even. It has bin a long time since she had one of these nights and it felt really good.

Afterwards they just stared at each other for awhile before falling asleep in each others arms.

The next morning when they collected their clothes, she actually saw Marc getting the keys out of his pocket and placing them under the couch in the living room. She pretended not to see and tried to hide the smile on her face. This would mean that he actually wanted to see her again ant that this wasn't some fling where the guy leaves the girl hanging after he had her in bed.

She actually really likes Marc. He's a gentleman, and even after two dates he already has a way to figure her out. It really gives her a great feeling.

'Wait I'm still at work, I have to keep my mind on the paperwork for another 25 minutes'. Sara looked at her paperwork again and tried to concentrate, although it wasn't really working that much.

"Watcha thinking about Sara?" Greg asked "Thinking about your little lover boy?"

"Stop it Greg."

"Kidding Sara, but seriously, is he a good guy? 'Cause I can checkup on him if you want, see if he has no record or something."

"It's fine Greg, but thanks for asking. I let you know when I get suspicious about something."

Before Greg got time to respond her cell phone rang again. She checked the caller ID, Riley. 'Wonder why she's calling'

"Hey"

"_So, why did you ditch us last night?" _

"O right, I was gonna drop by to tell you guys how it went, wasn't I?"

"_That was the plan, now unless you got a good explanation for it were really mad at you!" _Riley said in a teasing tone.

"The date just went really well!." Sara said smiling.

She heard Riley laugh at the other end of the phone. _"You little slut! You tell us all that you're a recovering workaholic, but I'm not so sure. Your picking up very quickly!"_

"Well I've got good coaches, who will do anything to help me."

Riley laughed _"Well I guess you made it up to us by that comment! Are you going to come tonight? You don't have to stay long just to catch us up on how the date went."_

"I don't know if I'm going to make it, I'm meeting up with Marc after shift because he 'accidentally' forgot his keys at my apartment and I don't know how long it's going to take to find them." She said laughing.

"_Riiight, weird how he suddenly forgot his keys."_ She said sarcastically _"But if you 'find them' in time give one of us a call and we can meet up." _

"Okay I will, I think tomorrow is my day of anyway, so I'll probably call you guys."

"_Good to hear you're not fed up with us now you a hot man candy! See you tonight then!" _

"Okay see ya!"

"How the hell did you manage to get a life in a little over a week?" Nick asked her "I'm still trying to get it together and I had a life before!"

"Guess I'm not as bad at this as you thought I would be." Sara said with a bit of anger in her voice.

"Catherine was the one who said you couldn't, we just thought that you _wouldn't_. That's a big difference you know." Warrick said.

"You can't tell me there wasn't a little part of you who thought that I wasn't capable of getting a life outside of work." Sara said then added "Without your help." When she saw Warrick opening his mouth to respond.

"Okay your right about that, but I just thought that we could help you get on the right track, but apparently you don't need it."

"I guess I don't." she said a bit proud of herself.

After that the conversation went still, and they all kept busy with their paperwork until Nick said that shift ended. They all clocked out and went to the locker room to gather their stuff.

"Well I'll see you guys in two days then." Sara said when she had gotten everything out of her locker.

"Yeah see ya Sar, have fun on your day off." Nick said.

"And with finding those keys" Warrick added.

Sara smiled "Yeah thanks, I'm sure it'll be fun."

"I'll bet"

"Bye guys"

" Bye Sara" They all said at once.

When Sara got to the parking lot she found Marc already waiting for her at his car.

"Hey!" he said when he saw her.

"Hey yourself"

"I'm really sorry I forgot my keys, I have no idea how it happened." he replied innocently.

"Weird isn't it. I guess I got distracted by something particularly." He said while moving closer to give her a hello kiss.

"Either that or you accidentally got them out of your pocket and put them under the couch."

"You saw that?"

"Pretty hard to miss, I have a small apartment you know."

"Ah, well then I have to be a little more discreet the next time."

"You know you can also _ask_ me if you want to see me again."

"Well I just wanted a little bit of reassurance but next time I'll just ask then."

"That might work." Sara laughed "What do you say we get out of here?"

"Good idea, what about we get something to eat first and then get my keys from under your couch?"

"Sounds good. Where do you want to go?" she asked while he opened the door for her. She was going to like this habit. He ran around to the other side of the car.

"I was thinking about 'The Valkan' I don't know if you've been there before. It's a nice place but nothing casual so you don't have to go home and change. Oh and buying by the way." He said while he drove out of the parking lot.

"Na-ah, you paid last time this time is my turn."

"No then you make me look bad, how do you think it will look like if you paid for dinner."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Sara laughed

"No it will not. I'm gonna be devastated for weeks if I can't by you dinner."

"All right you can pay for dinner, stop being so dramatic!" she said amused that he found it so important to pay for dinner.

"It worked though!" he said smiling at her.

She smiled back at him, then they returned to look at the traffic before them, occasionally stealing glances at each other. They arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes later. Marc was right it was a nice place and casual. They talked most of the time every now and then there was a silence but it were comfortable ones. Dinner ended far too quickly for both of them. But the date wasn't over yet, they still have go 'search' for Marc's keys.

When they arrived at her apartment Marc things were heating up really quickly and before they knew it they were lying in each others arms under the sheets just talking a bit and regaining their breath.

"You know I usually don't do this." Marc said.

"Do what?"

"Sleep with someone after I know them barely two weeks." he said looking in her eyes.

"Is this just something you say to everyone or do really mean it?"

"No I really mean it. Normally I wait a couple of weeks to get to know the person a little better because most of the time you find something later on that you don't like about the other person."

"So why didn't you wait with me?"

"I don't know, with you it just happened I guess." he said recalling how things transpired between them. "and with you it didn't seem weird or anything, it felt pretty good. I don't know how you feel about it but…" he trailed of.

"No I feel the same. I mean I haven't always waited with things like this, although I probably should have with some guys 'cause they turned out to be jerks. But are you saying you never had a one night stand or anything?" she asked curious.

"Of course I had one night stands, but that was just out of frustration, you know. Either I was frustrated because of my job or because I was having a dry spell for awhile."

"Why would you have a dry spell? I mean look at you!" she said smiling.

Marc smiled at her "I've had opportunities but I rather have it that I sleep with someone I really like."

"So you have one night stands with girls you met two hours ago?" Sara laughed.

"Okay so I know that doesn't really make any sense but you know what I mean right?"

"I know all too well, I've had a couple of those nights too. Sometimes after a rough shift I've went to a bar and fooled around with a total stranger. Never really satisfied me though."

"So tell me are you satisfied with me?"

"Yeah I am actually."

"You sound surprised."

"Well I am, I didn't really something like this so fast." Sara recalling all events since she met Marc.

"Do you think it's moving too fast?" he asked a little worried.

"No, not at all. I… I don't know. It just feels right, I know it sounds cheesy but.." she trailed off.

"It does sounds a bit cheesy, but I know what you mean."

They stayed quiet for awhile, each lost in their own thoughts. Then Mark's cell phone began to ring.

"Shit!" he says while looking for his cell phone.

"What?"

"I was supposed to meet up with some friends to have a couple of beers, but I forgot." he said while retrieving his cell phone.

"Hey man."

"…."

"Yeah I'm sorry I forgot I was a bit busy."

"…."

"Funny, very funny."

"…."

"I don't know if I can make it I…." he paused when Sara signaled for him to go. "hang on a minute"

"Are you sure?" he asked Sara.

"Yeah I'm sure. I was going to meet some friends somewhere tonight anyway, you go hang out with yours."

"Okay then." he said and then gave her a kiss. "I'll be there in about half an hour till an hour okay?" "…."

"Okay bye." he said an then hung up.

"So I guess we should search for our clothes then." Sara said.

"Too bad, I think this look is better on you."

"Well I guess I can try and see if the rest of Vegas thinks so too." Sara pretended to contemplate.

"Nah don't do that, I don't wanna share."

Marc continued to look for his clothes, while Sara tried to find something else to wear to the club. When they were both properly dressed, they went to the door. Then something popped into Sara's mind.

"Uhh.. Marc?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked him.

"I was going to kiss you when we got to the car you know."

"I meant something else." he gave her a questioning look "Your keys?"

"Right!" he said while getting his keys from under the couch. "It'll probably come handy 'cause I need a change of clothes before I go to work tomorrow."

"Probably" she said smiling.

"Where are you meeting your friends by the way?"

"At club28."

"Do you want me to drop you off?" he asked "I mean You're probably going to have a couple of drinks at the club so it probably won't be save driving."

"Your probably right, I've had that once don't plan on doing that again" that last she muttered under her breath. Too bad for her Mark heard.

"What do you mean? You once got caught drunk driving?" he asked a bit worried.

Sara sighed "Yeah, it was about a year and a halve ago, rough shift, needed a couple drinks and I didn't really think of the consequences. They let me off the hook though."

"Lucky girl." he said and then fell silent. "Why didn't you call a cab then?"

"I don't know, I wasn't really thinking straight, had a lot on my mind and I was a bit self-destructing at the time."

"Are you still now?"

"I don't know." Sara admitted.

"If you don't if you're not you probably still are. You just know when your not."

"I guess your right."

"Why are you self-destructing then?"

"Crappy childhood I guess." She sighed.

"If you ever want to talk about I'm here for you you know. Talking helps most of the time, better then do things you're going to regret afterwards."

"I don't think I'm ready to talk about things yet." she said sadly looking down at her hands.

"Hey, don't be sad. I didn't mean to upset you." he softly said while taking her hand and gave it a squeeze. That earned him a smile. "There you go, that fits you much better. But just so you know, when you're ready to talk I'm here."

"Thanks, that means a lot." Sara genuinely said to him. The kept quiet the rest of the ride, still holding hands. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at club28.

"Well I guess this is my stop." Sara said while unbuckling her seatbelt. They shared a couple kisses and then Sara excited the car.

"Hey Sara!" Mark said getting out of the car.

"Yeah"

"I was just wondering, are you seeing anyone else at the moment?"

"No, you?"

"Nope me neither. I was just wondering… do you want to keep it that way or…?"he asked cautiously.

"You know, I think that will be nice." Sara said smiling.

"Good, I was kind of hoping you would say that." he said relieved. They shared a couple more kisses but then they really had to go their separate ways. "You wanna get together tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah sure, what are you planning?"

"It's a surprise, but wear something comfortable. Pick you up at three?"

"Don't you have to work?"

"It's Saturday tomorrow, I don't work weekends."

"Right, you actually have a weekend."

"I know, it's the best!" he said teasingly.

"Funny! I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"All right, have fun!"

"You too!" he waved at her and then got in his car and drove off. Sara waited till he was around the corner, and then headed to the entrance of the club.

**A/N: Okay so I've gotten to the conclusion that I'm just really lousy at updating. But I have my life a bit under control now so I'm hoping my updating skills ill go up a bit. Anyway I made this chapter a little longer then the others to make it up with you guys a bit. Hope you like it! And if you want to place a review, be my guest! I don't mind ;) **

**Xxx Lois **


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